What's your worst Gator basketball memory?

[Distant Gator]

Surprised no one has mentioned the Temple loss in the 2nd round of the NCAAs in 2001.

Being out of state I missed 1 or 2 games of our 2000 run, and I was determined not to miss what I thought would be an equally glorious 2001 run. So I paid $20 to join a sports bar so I could watch our 2nd round game vs Temple on a Sunday afternoon.

I figured an easy win- we were a #3 seed, Temple was an #11 seed. We had been to the final game the year before, Temple was only there because of an upset. We were even ranked in the top 10. Instead we didn't show up and lost by over 20. And it wasn't that close.

I don't mind a hard-fought loss to a good team- like Louisville last year. That's sports. But not showing up vs an #11 seed in the 2nd round of the NCAAs- that is inexcusable. Billy should have apologized to the fans for that one. And reimbursed me my $20.

[ArtVandelay]

1) Michigan State in Finals

2) Butler/Louisville in Elite Eight

3) Gonzaga

4) Creighton/Manhattan upsets

5) Villanova crushing us (we forgot to show up for the game)

[SmootyGator]

Michigan State for me. I think (correct me if I'm wrong) that was the year with we beat both UNC and Duke in the tournament. At the end of those games, both of those teams were totally sucking wind because we had played like 9 guys all game and wore them out. I think it was UNC in particular that it was close or we were barely winning most of the game, but we just totally pulled away once there was like 5 minutes left and we never looked back. Their players were so drained they couldn't even hit a free throw.

I thought for sure that we were going to do the same to Michigan State, but then Mateen Cleaves (sp?) AKA Pac-Man destroyed is in the finals!

[ReggieNelson]

Originally Posted by regurgigator

Various horrors seared indelibly in my mind:

Another excruciating regular season loss was the one to UK where Drejer had 11 assists and should have had the game-winning 12th assist, but the refs called a charge when Drejer hit a UK player about a step and a half after releasing the pass. Pure BS call!

doug shows, worst call ever

[themistocles]

I don't think one can have a "Worst" memory, or a "Best" memory, unless there are very few successful moments. I think that for Gator Basketball fans, there are probably more "Bad" than "Good" memories, but that is also probably true for followers of any given team.

Two that no one else so far has mentioned:

(1) Arizona this year (that one was worse then when Brent Wright traveled), and
(2) that SEC season-ending loss to Vanderbilt in Nashville (one of many) back in the 60s (if I recall correctly) that kept the Gators from the SEC title and therefore meant no NCAA tournament bid in the days of a 16-team tournament. If I recall correctly that was the frontcourt of Walk and Keller.

The rest of you have dredged up some painful memories, especially regurgi - Ouch! - Ouch!! - Ouch!!! - Ouch!!!! - Ouch!!!!! - Ouch!!!!!!.....

Regarding losing Vince Carter to Duke - that actually was a major reason Lon Kruger gave for leaving: "Can't recruit top players to a football school." Which really is pretty true, and makes you appreciate guys like Sloan and Billy D especially, even more (I put Billy D with Mack Brown as a recruiter - AMAZING).

[GothamGator]

Some pretty thoughtful stuff here.

One of my worst memories is also from 2001. We were up 1 against UK at Rupp with a few seconds left and missed a shot giving Kentucky the ball. Tayshaun Prince hit a tough, well-defended hook shot in the lane to give UK the win. That loss not only ended up costing us sole possession of the SEC Championship (we ended up sharing with UK), but it also prevented Brett Nelson from becoming the first Gator to win the SEC MVP award. He lost by one vote to Prince.

That 2001 team was really special. They started 1-3 in conference and lost 3 starters to injury. At one point, they were down to 7 scholarship players. Yet, they won every conference game after that 1-3 start, except for the one point loss at Rupp. They were exhausted by the time of the NCAAs, and it showed in that loss to Temple.

[gatorfan96]

The loss to Butler two years ago. I was mad for two weeks because the refs handed the game to them

[MJGator8104]

I have to admit that for the most part, I've done my best to NOT remember the losses (even the bad ones). Helps keep the blood pressure low...

[tilly]

When the 04's decided not to go for a third.

[Go2gtr]

Originally Posted by gatorsfa

Being excited as an undergrad to get within 20 points of UK at the Alley. And realizing that was as good as it was going to be. Nice players--Cesare, Hannah and Clarson. But facing Macy, Phillips and Bowie.

'77?

[allig8ralli]

for me it was the loss to butler in the elite 8, the team that went on to stink it up in the final, all the while thinking that we should be here

[ArtVandelay]

Originally Posted by themistocles

Regarding losing Vince Carter to Duke -

UNC

[Shnicker]

Originally Posted by Distant Gator

Surprised no one has mentioned the Temple loss in the 2nd round of the NCAAs in 2001.

Being out of state I missed 1 or 2 games of our 2000 run, and I was determined not to miss what I thought would be an equally glorious 2001 run. So I paid $20 to join a sports bar so I could watch our 2nd round game vs Temple on a Sunday afternoon.

I figured an easy win- we were a #3 seed, Temple was an #11 seed. We had been to the final game the year before, Temple was only there because of an upset. We were even ranked in the top 10. Instead we didn't show up and lost by over 20. And it wasn't that close.

I don't mind a hard-fought loss to a good team- like Louisville last year. That's sports. But not showing up vs an #11 seed in the 2nd round of the NCAAs- that is inexcusable. Billy should have apologized to the fans for that one. And reimbursed me my $20.

That was a really tough loss, but I have a completely different viewpoint on it than you. Yes, we were a top 10-12 team and we were a 3 seed. But that year was really really difficult for the team. Billy and his wife had that heartbreaking loss right before the season started. Justin Hamilton tore his ACL. Brent Wright had a foot injury and Teddy Dupay was out for a while with a back injury. Yet we STILL had our longest SEC winning streak to that point. I can't remember what the number was, but it was pretty high (and probably eclipsed since then). That team was a really scrappy team that just found ways to win. We didn't win the SEC tourney and we beat a really overmatched team in the first round. But the guys just ran out of gas, and you can't fault them for that. You might say that it was inexcusable to be a 3 seed and lose in the 2nd round, but I thought it was incredible that we were even a 3 seed to begin with. That 2000-2001 team had a lot of guts, and they'll always be one of my favorites because of that.

The losses to Creighton and Manhattan were disappointing, but they were a 12 seed over a 5 seed. In fact, we limped into the 2004 tournament. We were overrated as a 5 seed and NO ONE had us winning that game against Manhattan, which was on a hot streak. All the talking heads chose that as their 12/5 upset and all of them patted themselves on the back for that one.

For me, it was the Gonzaga game. That was my freshman year and I was really really into the team. We went to the game vs Auburn when they had Chris Porter and were a 1 seed and beat us convincingly. We were the only Gator fans there but we were cheering our heads off and a cop there actually told us to keep going and he'd have our backs. We also went to the Georgia game in Athens and beat the dawgs there. That Gonzaga loss was so crushing, and it didn't help that within 5 minutes, we lost, my parents called to tell me a family friend had died, and the cops knocked on my door and arrested my roommate.

[themistocles]

Originally Posted by ArtVandelay

UNC

Whoops - I always have trouble distinguishing the public versus independent schools in the Research Triangle.

Whoops.

That's much like saying Southern California when you mean UCLA (roughly the same distance apart as Duke and UNC).

[insuragator]

Originally Posted by allig8ralli

for me it was the loss to butler in the elite 8, the team that went on to stink it up in the final, all the while thinking that we should be here

That one has to be it for me. I reflect back to the 1994 team against Duke as being painful, but Arkansas was a machine that year.

I do think we would have won it all had we held on to the lead against Butler.

The Creighton loss was just the stars aligning wrong. If memory serves, that guy his 9 three pointers all in the second half. The final shot was well contested too. We had a good squad that year. That dude just could not miss.

Go Gators!!! Man!! This year is fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Shnicker]

Originally Posted by insuragator

The Creighton loss was just the stars aligning wrong. If memory serves, that guy his 9 three pointers all in the second half. The final shot was well contested too. We had a good squad that year. That dude just could not miss.

Kyle Korver... I still hate him.

[g8r2g8r]

Chris Jackson

[iam4uf]

Originally Posted by gatorbogey

i think when we got positively pounded by michigan state in the tampa 'pod' - we were a 2 seed, in tampa, i think izzo's team was something like a 10 seed. we got slaughtered that evening.

I was visiting a friend in Tampa, watched it at a bar with enough non-Gators to make for a miserable game. That was a tough loss. Another that sticks out for me was the 2000, nineteen point loss to Temple in the second round. We had closed out the season on a 9-1 run, including a first-round, 13-point win against 24-6 Western KY. The Manhattan game was also terrible, I think I remember being pissed at some poor shot selection.

[regurgigator]

Originally Posted by Shnicker

Kyle Korver... I still hate him.

We held Korver in check. It was the bench player (I think his name was something like Michael Jordan...or he was a big fan of Jordan or something) who killed us. One of the greatest shooting exhibitions I've ever seen in the Tournament (just short of Goose Givens and Bill Walton's shooting exhibitions) and he didn't even have the decency to do any of it in the 1st half so that we could have tried to come up with some half-time adjustments. It was all in the 2nd half. And, it wasn't just 3-pointers: the guy was driving to the hoop, hitting runners, and hitting pull-up mid-range jump shots as well

But, that guy still wouldn't have had the chance for that final winning shot if the refs had called the foul on Creighton when their guy held Hamilton to keep him from getting to the ball when Hamilton knocked it away from the dribbler with about 3 seconds left And, one of our players (I want to say David Lee, but not sure if he was even on the team) came a hair-breadth away from grabbing that loose ball before it went out of bounds. EXCRUCIATING!!!!!

[regurgigator]

The close losses are much harder to get over for me. When we get whipped, we get whipped is my take on the bigger losses.